There are many kinds of remote controls, both radio wave and infrared based. These remote controls particularly emit instructions of acceleration or direction in the direction of the motorized toy. These instructions are interpreted by the vehicle, according to its own instantaneous position. The user must take this position into account, however, to be able to control the toy. These typical controls are not very acceptable for a child. Turning right is intuitive when the vehicle moves away from the child, but when the vehicle comes back to the child, the controls are reversed.
These remote controls are not reactive, hence they do not take into account the changes of path adherence of the toy and the difficulty to modulate the acceleration. There is a need to solve these restraints, and to propose an intuitive remote control immediately controlled by the child and adapted to his/her limit:
German Published Patent Application No. DE 2 006 570 TO describes a toy which has three detectors pointed at the top, wherein L1 controls the M1 left engine and L2 the M2 engine. The two engines are constantly power supplied through a button on the toy. When a detector is lighted, the corresponding engine is stopped. Because the other engine is still working, the toy turns in the lighted sensor direction. The user has to point the sensor which transmits an on/off binary order. A detector L4 puts in support a wheel which direction is clear, in order to make rotation easier. The toy has optical sensors pointed at the top with engines. The user runs after the toy throwing a beam, precisely on a sensor, to transmit the stop setting off order of the motorized wheel. This will turn the toy into the side of the lighted sensor.
The toy does not detect and follow a bright spot projected on the ground by the user optical control, till joining its center, through optical sensors oriented to the ground, which order the propulsion and direction engines speed, proportionally to the intensity of the flow of the spot caught by these sensors, and this without influence of the ambient bright environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,130,803 describes a vehicle having two optical sensors oriented to the ground delivering an order proportional to the optical flow caught, and at least two engines, in order to follow a trajectory materialized by a bright strip. The optical signal received on each sensor is directly increased and delivered to the engine without filter, so that each engine speed is proportional to the ambient light intensity and to the diffusing area. The path line regulates the trajectory of the toy, but not its speed. Thus, the toy is not optically remote controlled, but has a trajectory which is programmed by the path line. Furthermore, the toy does not have a command system which is light ambient level non-sensitive
U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,865 describes a mobile toy remote controlled by a visible or infra-red beam emission pulse-wave modulated on the toy sensors up-oriented. The command system transmits a signal (delay between two impulses). It is processed by the toy as a pre-scheduled move order. The user goes after the mobile toy to disturb the toys trajectory. The toy has a remote-controlled system of motorized mobile toy's movements, based on a modulated light emission received by up-oriented sensors. The moves are orders which are pre-scheduled in time-delay and intensity, and not a progressive move depending on the received optical flow, in a direction relative to the spot position and to the vehicle.
United Kingdom Published Patent No. GB1354676 describes an interactive toy composed by an optical, tactile and sound system driving sensors setting off a command system relay on at least 2 engines.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,406,481 describes a toy with a driving wheel set on a vertical axle which is oriented by a modulated beam action thrown on at least two photoelectric receivers fixed with this turning axle. The wheel and the sensors are spontaneously oriented to equilibrate the received flows on the two receivers. It is a toy optically remote-controlled by a modulated beam which is thus differentiated from the ambient light. For changing the direction of the vehicle, it is necessary to change the modulated light source. The toy automatically follows the user who is the carrier of the source. The toy does not follow a spot on the floor projected by an optical remote control which points at the area to reach. A directional system is composed of two photovoltaic sensors motorized by the action of the level difference between the receptions.